What are facebook Messenger ads?

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Facebook added several features and options to Facebook Messenger ads over the past couple of months and in doing so have been providing new ways for advertisers to communicate with new or existing customers. Users are often confused about how to use the new features.

There are 3 primary features of Facebook Messenger ads:

  • Messenger Destination
  • Messenger Home Placement
  • Sponsored Messages placements

We will focus on Messenger Destination below:

Messenger destination is not a placement, but rather when an advertiser selects an ad goal of say driving traffic to an external source such as a website, you now have the option of choosing messenger. This feature will allow your ads to start a conversation with your audience through messenger very easily. You will also have the option of customising the first screen customers see when clicking on the new “Send Message” button within your advert.  For example you may want to ad an intro message such as “Thank you for clicking on my ad to learn more about xyz” and you can ad a button which will then direct to an external URL – this gives the customer a choice to go straight to the eternal link or simply encourage the customer to ask questions live.

Messenger Ads - Facebook Messenger Destination

Messenger Home Placement

In the case of Messenger Destination, your ad may appear in several different placements (desktop news feed, mobile news feed, Instagram feed, etc.), but send the user into a conversation within Facebook Messenger. But placements are also available within Messenger. Facebook can manage placements automatically. Messenger home placement is almost like a sponsored ad, however this one appears within Facebook messenger on the user’s home screen and below their messages. There are no limitations when it comes to the audience targeting and the ad will appear below the user’s messenges.

Sponsored Messages Placements

These are like messenger Home Placement ads, however they do not just appear on the user’s home screen and will appear between a user’s messages as well.  Ads will be limited to those users who have messaged your page before. You may not have loads of contacts to receive this type of advertising just yet, however you can grow the number of this type of user by encouraging them to message your page through other ads instead, thereby increasing the number of people you can target with Sponsored Messages Placements.

Will these types of ads annoy people too much? Will they prove effective as an additional Facebook marketing channel? Only time will tell….